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<DIV>Thank you, Rik, for passing this info to the plenary.</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>WSIS Internet Governance Caucus has discussed ITU's Internet
Governance workshop since Jan. 8th and I personally feel enormous
challenges in building coalitions within WSIS civil society and collecting WSIS
civil society's positions about Internet governance down this road until 2005
Nov WSIS.</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>When Internet Governance caucus was set up back in 2003 February
during PrepCom II by Wolfgang and myself, it was one of twenty or so WSIS
civil society caucuses or working groups. It started with three or four people
back then and has evolved to a bigger group composed of around 50 in the maling
list but it is still a small part of WSIS civil society. </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>The upcoming ITU Internet Governance workshop's participation is
known to be restricted "only" to ITU's member states and sector
members. It excludes many WSIS civil society members and WSIS
Internet governance caucus was notified only two or three people from the
caucus can attend the meeting. At this moment, it is 'not" still clear whether
civil society members can attend the workshop without "invitation". </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>WSIS civil society together with Internet Governance caucus has to make a
request that ITU's Internet Governance Workshop should be open to civil
society members. It will be a very bad precedent in the Internet Governance
history. We have to remember that the controversial US agency model, ICANN,
allows civil society groups to participate in policy-making process with voting
rights. </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>It is time for WSIS Plenary to discuss what WSIS civil society should do in
terms of "Internet Governance" in association with "Internet Governance Caucus"
within civil society.</DIV>
<DIV>YJ </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">Dear
Colleagues,<BR><BR>The Secretary General of the WSIS and the ITU, Yoshio
Utsumi, has posted a general message to the WSIS website. He announces in this
message a meeting on internet governance taking place from 26 - 27 February in
Geneva, which will provide a "forum for exchanging views on definitions,
viewpoints, visions and analytical studies on Internet
governance."<BR><BR>Below is the entire message.<BR><BR>Rik
Panganiban<BR>WFM<BR><BR>..................................<?/x-tad-smaller><?/color><?x-tad-smaller><BR><BR><?/x-tad-smaller><B><?color><?param 0000,0000,8080><BR>Message
from Mr. Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary General of ITU and Secretary General of the
World Summit on the Information Society<?/color><BR><BR></B><?color><?param 3333,3333,3333><?x-tad-smaller>As
we look back to the Geneva phase of the World Summit on the Information
Society attended by 11,000 participants including 44 Heads of state or
government and vice-presidents, we can be proud of our collective
accomplishments. The Geneva phase clearly placed the issue of ICTs on the
agenda of world leaders and produced consensus on the importance of shaping
the Information Society in a constructive manner beneficial to all citizens.
Leaders also agreed on the importance of ICTs in addressing many of the major
social, political and economical problems and the important role that ICTs can
play as an essential tool in reaching many of the goals expressed in the
Millennium Declaration. The Action Plan sets forth a firm commitment to meet
concrete targets to "connect the world' and bring the benefits of ICTs to all
nations.<?/x-tad-smaller><?/color><?x-tad-smaller><BR><BR><?/x-tad-smaller><?color><?param 3333,3333,3333><?x-tad-smaller>In
addition, many multi-stakeholder partnership initiatives were announced during
the Summit. Cisco and ITU signed a Memorandum of Understanding to open 20 more
Internet Training Centres in developing countries. Microsoft, working with
UNDP, will create a billion dollar program to bring ICT skills to underserved
communities. The UN ICT Task Force with Ireland, Sweden, Canada and
Switzerland announced the global e-school project to connect schools and
communities in the developing world. And at the very close of the Summit, the
cities of Geneva and Lyon and the Government of Senegal announced
contributions totaling about 1 million euros to fund ICT projects in
developing countries, representing the first payments towards the Digital
Solidarity Fund.<?/x-tad-smaller><?/color><?x-tad-smaller><BR><BR><?/x-tad-smaller><?color><?param 3333,3333,3333><?x-tad-smaller>I
would like to thank the many participants in the process. In particular, I
thank the host country of the Geneva phase, Switzerland, for their substantial
efforts and contributions. As well, I am grateful to Mr. Adama Samassekou, the
PrepCom President of the Geneva phase, for his energy and commitment to this
process. A special thanks also goes to those who made financial or
organizational contributions to the Summit.<?/x-tad-smaller><?/color><?x-tad-smaller><BR><BR><?/x-tad-smaller><?color><?param 3333,3333,3333><?x-tad-smaller>Together,
we are now faced with the challenge of transforming the vision and plans
endorsed in the Geneva phase into concrete action. The Geneva Summit called
for a preparatory meeting to be held in the first half of 2004 to establish
the structure of the Tunis phase. As preparation for that meeting has been
entrusted to the Bureau for the Tunis phase, the establishment of the Bureau
for the Tunis phase is one of the most urgent matters requiring attention. The
two ex officio members of the Bureau, Tunisia and Switzerland, are expected to
play a key role in this process. I sincerely hope that the new Bureau members
will meet informally at the beginning of February to commence their task.<?/x-tad-smaller><?/color><?x-tad-smaller><BR><BR><?/x-tad-smaller><?color><?param 3333,3333,3333><?x-tad-smaller>The
Geneva phase also identified two major issues to be resolved under the
auspices of UN Secretary General, namely Internet governance and financing
mechanisms. To contribute to the discussion on Internet governance, ITU will
organize a workshop on 26 - 27 February in Geneva, which provides a forum for
exchanging views on definitions, viewpoints, visions and analytical studies on
Internet governance .<?/x-tad-smaller><?/color><?x-tad-smaller><BR><BR><?/x-tad-smaller><?color><?param 3333,3333,3333><?x-tad-smaller>I
look forward to working with the many stakeholders involved in this exciting
and important undertaking. In particular, I am pleased to begin working
closely with Tunisia, the host country of the second phase as we prepare for
November 2005. <?/x-tad-smaller><?/color><?x-tad-smaller><BR><BR><?/x-tad-smaller><?color><?param 3333,3333,3333><?x-tad-smaller>Mr.
Yoshio Utsumi<BR><?/x-tad-smaller><?/color><?/fontfamily><TT><?fontfamily><?param Courier New>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<BR>Rik
Panganiban email: rikp@bluewin.ch<BR>Special Adviser Mobile: +41 76 473 3274
<BR>World Federalist Movement www.wfm.org
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